6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends
- Economic Trend: Consumer Spending Slowly Grows
-B: Here, there is an opportunity for sales within any industry in America. As people's disposable incomes increase, there opportunity to spend more on nonessential goods increases. This allows opportunity for more jobs and allows companies who sell luxury goods to make more of a profit.
-C: The prototypical consumer would be any worker earning a steady income who has enough left to spend on nonessential goods i.e. luxury goods. As long as their income is not decreasing, a consumer will continue to purchase goods that are not essential for them, like fancier clothes, vacations, nicer home products, eating at lavish restaurants, etc.
-D: I feel that this opportunity is easy to exploit, as a company can use advertisements and spokespeople to flaunt how good their product is, making consumers want their product. By seeing ads or their friends use a certain product, consumers can come to realize that they almost need a product and want to purchase it if they have enough disposable income. People with money are easy to exploit because they will spend it on something they want.
-E: I saw this opportunity because since my parents pay for all my essential needs like education, housing, and food, I have a pretty large disposable income. Therefore, I am easily influenced in buying nonessential products like nice clothes and vacations. I am a prototypical consumer in this situation, so I can personally attest to the fact that ads and seeing my friends use a certain product makes me spend more on it/purchase from a certain company.
- Economic Trend: Increase in Oil and Gas Prices
-B: Here, there is an opportunity for gas companies to make more money if they enter the industry, as there will be a high demand for gas and people will be willing to pay the high prices in order to drive the cars they already have. However, there is another opportunity here which I want to discuss. As the prices of oil and gas increase, consumers will increase their demand for hybrid cars and cars that don't need gas to drive.
-C: The prototypical consumer would be anyone who drives a car, or the parents of a teenager who drives a car. These are the people who have to pay for oil/gas, and they will not want to pay the high prices for gas if they keep increasing. They will shift to buying cars from companies like Tesla, since they do not require gas to run.
-D: I believe that this opportunity is very easy to exploit because many people have started buying cars that do not require gas just because they are better for the environment and concern for the environment has increased over the years. Additionally, with gas prices increasing, people are sick of having to pay so much for something that harms the environment, and want to get cars that don't require such an expensive and harmful product. Therefore, getting consumers to buy cars like Tesla cars will be easy to exploit.
-E: I saw this opportunity because my dad, my brother, and I have all driven a Prius, as hybrid car, for around 6 years. We understand the damaging effects gas pollution has on our environment, and want to help improve the environment. Also, we do not like paying so much for gas, and my dad actually bought a Tesla vehicle about a year ago. So personally, I definitely saw this as an opportunity since my family owns a vehicle that does not run on gas and I own a hybrid vehicle which does not use as much gas as regular cars.
- Regulatory Change: Trump Administration Stopped Discouraging the sale of plastic water bottles in national parks
-B: Here, an opportunity exists for plastic water bottles companies to make more sales within national parks. It also allows jobs for small vendors in national parks as most sell plastic water bottles because people use them in parks when it is hot outside.
-C: The prototypical consumer is anyone who visits national parks. Mainly families and couples who like traveling and seeing these parks. It gets hot in most national parks, and people are usually at these parks all day and need water. Water bottles are a convenience and essential item for life, so plastic water bottle companies can definitely make a profit from this.
-D: I feel that this opportunity is easy to exploit, because when someone is outside all day and it is hot, they are bound to get thirsty. When someone is thirsty, they need water to live, and they will turn to these vendors to purchase a water bottle. This can be exploited because water is needed to live, and even if people are against using plastic bottles, they still know they can recycle these bottles if they need to.
-E: I saw this opportunity because I personally have visited many national parks with my family, and I understand the struggle of needing water in the most remote areas. I saw that even though this hurt the environment, many people would still purchase water bottles at national parks because of the hot weather and need for convenient water bottles.
- Regulatory Change: Trump Administration amended fishing regulations for a number of species, including gray triggerfish.
-B: Here, an opportunity exists for grocery stores and fisherman. Now that there aren't as many regulations for the limits on how many fish fisherman can take from the ocean, they can catch more, sell more, and make more money. This also means that the prices of certain fish can be reduced for consumers, who can enjoy eating more fish.
-C: The prototypical consumer is someone who eats a lot of fish and grocers who sell fish. These people will be interested in purchasing fish, as grocers need a supply to sell to their consumers, and consumers who eat fish will buy fish if they enjoy eating it.
-D: I feel that this opportunity is easy to exploit, perhaps too easy. There is a reason that there were fishing regulations before. This is because fisherman probably already exploited the number of fish they caught, which was causing a depletion in certain species of fish if they were over-fishing. If the regulations have been amended, then fisherman could easily exploit this again and over-fish. Additionally, if consumers are spending more on fish as supply increases and prices decrease, fisherman will continue fishing more, and certain species of fish could be wiped out.
-E: I saw this opportunity because I am an avid fish eater, but I also am a scuba diver and I have my lobster catching license. With this license, I am only allowed to catch a certain number of lobster. This is because we do not want lobster to be exploited and become extinct. This has made me understand that having regulations for fishing is important, so that everyone can enjoy eating certain seafood. I believe that my own personal experiences have led me to find this opportunity as an opportunity but also an opportunity that could be exploited.
I enjoy reading your opportunities. You found some interesting ones. It was really interesting to read about the regulations on the increase of oil and gas prices. I have to put gas in my car almost every week and I did not know about this economic trend. Although the oil and gas prices are increasing, they are still really cheap compared to the ones I was used to have to deal with at home in Italy.
ReplyDeleteYour last two seem like opportunities that people are definitely going to take advantage of. I bet there is someone already getting permits to be able to sell water bottles. I know that in National Parks I've visited, I've desperately needed water and had to continuously drink from a not-properly-functioning water fountain. As far as the fish opportunity, I'm also an avid fish eater and am excited about eating more triggerfish. I also am scuba dive certified and have my lobster license!
ReplyDeleteAll the opportunities you chose where an amazing read and I loved reading about you opinion on them. The opportunity about the rising gas prices is really interesting given the scope of it. Almost every household in America has a car, and if gas prices get high enough will people who own gasoline cars switch to hybrid cars, or even drive less often. I think it is really interesting to think about, I do know if gas prices do get too high I might consider switching to hybrid because in the long run it will save me money.
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